Creative articles about sewing

How to sew a simple half circle Skirt without a zipper

Especially in the summer period, I love to wear skirts. It is very pleasant to wear skirts of lightweight and fluttering fabric when the weather is warm.

Here is a simple skirt model, whose base is the half circle and in the waistband is elastic.

There are no specific measures for this skirt, but based on the measurements of our body we create a pattern.

First I’ll explain pattern and then specify all material, you need for this skirt.

The skirt consists of two parts, which are base of the skirt and waistband.

The base of the skirt is tailored in one part and represents a half circle.

Half circle

It is cut out on folded fabric

The base of the skirt is located between the waistband and bottom edge of the skirt, for which cutout are needed smaller radius r1 and larger r2 of the half circles, which we will now determine. This requires a bit of math.

In the image below are marked with a green r1 and r2 with the red dotted line.

r1 and r2

!!! For an easier tracking of the cut and measurement we use, my measurements are listed as an example, and you will already use your measurements.

Measure your hips

MY SKIRT My hips = 100 cm

Add to hips 10 cm

HIPS +10 cm

This is the length of the circular line that will be on the waist

MY SKIRT 100 + 10 = 110 cm

To determine r1, calculate

r1 = (HIPS+10) / 3.14

MY SKIRT r1 = 110 / 3.14 = 35 cm

The next step is to decide how long your skirt will be, and below I’ll explain what the options are.

MY SKIRT I decided that the length of my skirt would be 80 cm. (I love ‘midi’ skirts.)

The larger radius r2 calculate

r2 = r1 + skirt length

!!! to make it easier, you should already include the seam allowance (on the bottom) in the length of your skirt

MY SKIRT I added a seam allowance of 1 cm.

r2 = 35cm + 81cm = 116cm

Getting back on the length of the skirt, which may be interesting in this story. Most of the fabrics are 140-150 cm wide, and for easy explanation, let the width of the fabric, which we use, be 140cm.

The established r2 must be found in that length, i.e. when you specify r1, your skirt length is anything that ranges from 0 to 140 -r1 cm

MY SKIRT r1 = 34 cm, I could choose a length of skirt from 0 up to 106 cm.

(0 would not look like a skirt, is it? My recommendation for skirt length is minimum 40 cm.)

It is up to you to calculate the possibilities for your skirt length and to decide for the length.

I hope that all calculation is not too complicated, but only in this way you can make this skirt fit your measurements.

When this calculation is finished, we can calculate how much fabric we buy.

MATERIAL:

lightweight material that is minimum 140 cm width and the length you need is 2 x r2 + 20 cm for the waistband and a bit of more if the fabric is wrongly cut out.

MY SKIRT 2 x 116 cm +20 cm = 252 cm

I bought 2.55m of fabric

elastic band width 3 cm, the length that is the measurement of your waist

thread in the matching color

You still need: sewing machine, needle, pins, scissors, chalk, rotary cutter and serger/overlocker are not necessary.

The fabric that is used in this post is 100% viscose/rayon and you can use any lightweight fabric such as viscose, cotton, poplin or similar.

!!! fabrics like viscose can be stretchy on the bias and if you have no experience in the treatment of similar, choose a fabric that is not too extensibility at an angle of 45 degrees.

Pattern pieces

!!! when you use elastic another width, then is width of this band 2x elastic width + 2 cm seam allowance.

Pattern pieces draw directly on the fabric and then cut out.

First, on one side of the fabric, cut the 8 cm (when you use elastic width 3 cm), which we used after for the waistband

The rest of the fabric fold in half so that selvedge edges coincide.

!!! for such a design, the table usually is not big enough so that cutting can be done on the floor or a similar surface.

At the selvage edge, mark 2 cm from the edge that will represent the seam allowance.

The necessary measures are r1 and r2, i.e., radius half-circles representing the top and bottom line of the skirt, with the need to take 1cm for seam allowance from r1.

MY SKIRT r1 – 1 cm = 34 cm, r2 = 116 cm

They need to be as much as possible accurate marked on the fabric.

For that, I use a thin lath length of 1.5 cm. It is necessary to mark on it measurements we need, 0 point is the beginning, r1-1cm and r2 (radii for the top and bottom line).

MY SKIRT I have marked 34 cm and 116.

Start marking our measures on the fabric.

You can use the measuring tape or whatever you usually use to mark the measurements on the fabric; you don’t have to use a lath-like me.

The center of our semicircles is shown in the picture below.

Moving the lath, where the center and 0 points match each time, we mark both lengths with the chalk.

When marking is completed, we connect the marked points, so that they form a part of the circular line.

Cut out these two lines, and this is the base of the skirt.

Start with the sewing, and that is the easiest part of this story.

First, sew down the side seam, by placing the fabric right side on the right side, pin it and stitch with the sewing machine.

!!! Reverse-pattern foot #1, plain seam #1, the stitch length 3

!!! The stitch is sewn 2 cm from the edge.

You can handle the edges with the overlocker, if you own one, if not, then you can always use the zigzag seam #2 on your Bernina sewing machine or to leave the edges as they are because they are the sides of the fabric that come already finished.

Connect the ends of the waistband to one another, so that the right side is on the right side, stitch it but you leave the hole for the elastic. We will do this so that we stitch 1.5 cm, leave 2 cm unstitched and then until the end stitch.

!!! The stitch is sewn 1 cm from the edge.

Press it with iron.

Fold the waistband to half and press it.

finished Waistband

The waistband is completed, it remains to stitch it with the body skirt.

The right side of the waistband is the one on which it is not the opening and pin that with the right side of the skirt and stitch it.

!!! Reverse-pattern foot #1, plain seam #1, the stitch length 2,5

!!! The stitch is sewn 1 cm from the edge.

All my skirts are hanging on hangers, so I always put lanes of ribbon on the sides on the waistband and use for that double-sided satin ribbon width up to 1 cm. I cut out two times ribbon the length of 20 cm, fold and I sew them on the skirt.

Handle this seam rest with the overlocker or zigzag seam #2.

Flip the waistband up and press.

Now let’s do the bottom edge of the skirt.

Doing this hem in many ways is possible.

The first method is to fold the 0.5 cm in the bottom inward, then iron and again fold 0.5 cm, iron and sew it.

The second, it can be made with bias tape. From the remains of the fabric is possible to make bias tape (You can use a bias tape maker, to make that easier.).

The third method would be to use the overlock, i.e., rolled hem, the 2-thread stitch according to the instructions for sewing

The last, fourth, method would be to use some of the presser feet for narrow hems, which could be found in the rich offer of Bernina.

I decided to use straight-stitch hemmer, and there are two variants #62 and #64 depending on the width of the seam, 2 or 4 mm.

I hope you already have one of the mentioned feet for your sewing machine, I have both and although I was thinking to use #64, I used the #62 for this skirt.

Use the parameters that are recommended in the instructions.

!!! Straight-stitch hemmer #62, plain seam #1, stitch length 2

As seen in the picture, the hem is clear and fine.

At the end – elastic band.

Measure your waist, and it is the length of elastic you need. Thread the elastic through the waistband and sew ends together.

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